Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Martin Litton

I recently finished the book"The Emerald Mile" and last year on Dec 1st, I read in the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-martin-litton-20141202-story.html#page=1) that Martin Litton died.

In the article it said "Litton and some friends formed a group called California Trails to keep roads out of wild places. They succeeded in stopping a highway that would have sliced though the High Sierra to connect Lone Pine and Porterville. The area eventually became the Golden Trout Wilderness".

Where were they going to build this road, though Cottonwood lakes?

BTW: Richard P are you watching the Daytona 500

mark

I am now... thanks.

Didn't realize that Peter Matthiessen had died too.

Yep, that's the road up to Horseshoe Meadows, as far as they got from the east.

Go down halfway on this page:
http://ted-ology.blogspot.com/2014/09/inyos-trans-sierra-highways.html

This fellow also factored into it:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ike-Livermore-environmentalist-from-Gold-2543823.php

QINTL,

Thanks for sharing these great articles!

The Obituary for Ike Livermore is of particular personal interest to me as for over 50 years I have have hiked and run on the trails at Will Rogers State Park in the Pacific Palisades (Southern California). A few hundred yards away is Ronald Reagan's house of many years (until 1981 when he moved to Washington). His residence had outstanding views of the largely undeveloped Santa Monica Mountains.

Early in Reagan's first term as Governor of California, an uncharacteristically wide road was built up Temescal Canyon in the Pacific Palisades linking the Pacific Coast Highway with Sunset Blvd. General opinion was that it would surely soon be extended over the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Fernando Valley. Of course, such a road would open up thousands of acres along its route for development. But, at the end of Reagan's second term as Governor, Topanga State Park was established, and over the years its boundaries subsequently increased. The location of Topanga State Park essentially blocked the extension of Temescal Drive over the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Fernando Valley. Many of us are thankful for those who fought for this State Park and passed and signed the required legislation. I ran there last week and it was teeming with hikers, mountain bikers, horse riders, the young, the old, etc.

I think it is important not to forget the efforts of Brower, Litton, Livermore, and all the other players (from a wide range of backgrounds) who helped protect some our America's wonderful resources.

QITNL, getting back to the Sierra Range, if you find any more of these interesting articles, please continue to share!

Jim

Yeah, Topanga is real cool, I lived there for a bit.

A couple of other routes were proposed to the north.

Mystery of the High Sierra Piute Highway:
http://groffie.com/files/mystery_of_the_high_sierra_piute_highway.pdf

Lots of info in this thesis:
To Render Inaccessible: The Sierra Club's Changing Attitude Toward Roadbuilding
http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/8984/1/Schultz_umd_0117N_10031.pdf

The Man in the White Hat Who Saved the Sierra
(Ronald Reagan, believe it or not)
http://articles.latimes.com/1997/jul/28/news/mn-17071

An entire book:
Stopping the Road: The Campaign Against Another Trans-Sierra Highway
http://www.amazon.com/Stopping-Road-Campaign-Against-Trans-Sierra/dp/0991662938

The author did some readings last year:
http://www.sierrawave.net/31611/stopping-the-road-author-in-independence-mammoth/

QITNL...And now I know..
Thanks for the article and pictures never saw those pictures before.
Interesting..I got a lot to read now.

Thanks

Mark

Hi Ike Livermore had deep ties into the Sierra and helped many people start and run small mom and pop shops and pack stations , He came into the Store one day and said he had owned the store at one time, this was during a 50 year packer reunion and many of the Whitney Packers came in and looked the place over, many wanted to see the kitchen and side room as those are still from the 1935 build, shower room also but that was rebuilt after the 69 mudslides.


I didn't open all the links but a road called the Million Dollar Highway was also hi lighted in Popular Mechanics mid 20????

Now that North road Reds Meadow to Yosemite has more history with packers it was the effort and support from Regan and Packers and many others that saved this area. Now we have about 200 miles of road free backcountry and a width of 30+/- miles.

Any one interested in more about the Golden Trout check out the Disney resort planned and the snow survey accident with the Sierra Club first supporting the project and later withdrew.